Graduate students have a home at the University of Alaska Museum of the North (UAMN). In fact, one of the core functions of the museum is to provide a space for students (including undergraduates) to engage in research activities.
UAMN has an incredibly robust and accessible natural and cultural history collection used by many graduate students for their masters and doctoral research. In addition to the research itself, many students volunteer their time to help with specimen preparation, outreach events, and curation activities. Some are also supported as part time employees in one of the ten discipline-specific collections departments. We represent three graduate students who work in the Earth Sciences Collection, which includes a rich assortment of Alaskan fossils ranging from polar dinosaurs to ice age mammals, like mammoths.
Benjamin Cragun is a masters student who is employed as the Earth Sciences Collection Manager. In this role, Cragun finds employment to help cover the costs of tuition and to gain hands-on curation experience in an active research lab.
As collection manager, Cragun catalogues fossil specimens into a publicly accessible online repository called Arctos. Here, researchers and the public alike can search for information pertaining to museum specimens, such as images and collection dates.
Cragun also coordinates with other scientists from across the globe who wish to do research with UAMN specimens. For his graduate research, Cragun studies ancient proteins preserved within fossils. The Earth Sciences Collection has a wealth of fossils from the last ice age that potentially preserve ancient proteins, which can shed light on their identity, relationships, and paleobiology.
“Preservation of Pleistocene fossils from Alaska permafrost is truly exceptional,” Cragun said. “Sometimes a fossil is so well-preserved that soft tissue is still intact, like skin, and many Pleistocene fossils still retain their original collagen proteins.”
Xochitl Muñoz began working in the lab as an undergraduate student in their freshman year and recently began their masters degree.
“The Museum of the North was a huge reason why I decided to come up to the university as an undergraduate,” says Muñoz. “The museum is a great place to learn and train, and the opportunity to work hands-on with specimens and conduct my own project has been incredibly valuable.”
Muñoz started at UAMN conducting undergraduate research on Late Cretaceous mammals that lived alongside dinosaurs in what is now the North Slope of Alaska. For their masters work, Muñoz is now studying the small and enigmatic carnivorous dinosaurs from the North Slope, including probable new animals related to famous dinosaurs like Velociraptor. Muñoz uses fossils in the museum’s collections to compare to fossils of close relatives at other dinosaur museums from lower latitude sites in Alberta, Canada, and Montana.
During their time at UAMN, Muñoz has gained many valuable paleontological skills, including participation in fieldwork in Denali National Park and Preserve looking for dinosaur tracks. Some of Muñoz’s favorite work at the museum has been helping train other volunteers and assisting in coordinating different museum outreach days and Dinosaur Camp to share the museum’s knowledge of paleontology.
“Field work opportunities on the North Slope of Alaska is what initially drew me to the museum,” says Zakaria Hannebaum, a new PhD student in the Earth Sciences Collection. His research revolves around the herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived on the North Slope during the Late Cretaceous. He is especially interested in examining the incredible abundance of small-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs found on the North Slope to investigate the life strategies these small dinosaurs employed to survive Cretaceous polar winters.
UAMN has the largest collection of polar dinosaurs in North America, and as a graduate student here, Hannebaum spends much of his time in the museum collections examining the fossil bones of these extraordinary animals for his studies. The Museum is also more than just its collections and importantly provides spaces for learning and community outreach. Hannebaum dedicates much of his time at the Museum to mentoring UAF undergraduates who are volunteering or conducting research in the Earth Sciences Department or engaging with public outreach events.
Graduate students are part of the backbone of UAMN. This is because the museum is a one-of-a-kind resource for students such as Cragun, Muñoz, and Hannebaum to succeed in their academic endeavors.
“One thing I appreciate about being in the Museum of the North is that it’s not just fossils and dinosaurs,” says Muñoz. “If I have mammal questions, for example, I can go to mammalogy.”
Whether you study archaeology, ethnology, birds, mammals, fishes, insects, plants, or fossils, UAMN provides opportunities for UAF students to conduct research, learn on-the-job, experience fieldwork, learn curation, and participate in a host of outreach efforts. There are currently 23 active graduate students within the museum, and each has value and benefits the mission of the museum. Prospective students should not only see UAMN as a place that facilitates the curation of an extraordinary and accessible collection, but as an epicenter of research and academic growth that they can be a part of.
Early Explorers, for children 5 and younger with their caregivers, will be held on Dec. 12 at the UA Museum of the North. Siblings welcome!
During the month of December, museum guests can view a unique polar bear holiday tree in the museum’s lobby. Entry to the lobby, store, and cafe are free. On Dec. 14, drop in to listen to a flute student showcase near the tree.
The museum’s winter hours are from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., seven days a week. For more information about the museum’s collections, programs, and events, visit uaf.edu/museum or call 907-474-7505.
